Conventional wireless networks typically include multiple communication resources (such as one or more WiFi™ base stations) facilitating wireless communications with one or more respective mobile communication devices. For example, a conventional wireless network may include: a first base station providing wireless coverage to a first region in a network environment; a second base station providing wireless coverage to a second region in the network environment; etc.
Each of the wireless base stations may be part of the same wireless network providing access to a corresponding remote network such as the Internet. Via communications through a selected one of the multiple base stations, a respective user of the mobile communication device is able to wirelessly communicate through the selected wireless access point over the Internet.
In certain instances, the wireless base stations may support handoffs from one base station to another. This typically requires settings of the wireless base stations to be synchronized to some extent.
According to conventional techniques, and the IEEE 802.11k standard, a wireless access point can be configured to collect information to discover one or more available access points to hand off a respective client device. The access point can be configured to notify a mobile communication device of availability of different access points in a network environment. Each communication device in a wireless network normally connects to a respective Access Point (AP) that provides the strongest signal when establishing a respective communication link. Depending on the number and geographic locations of the subscribers, this arrangement can sometimes lead to excessive demand on one particular access point and underutilization of other access points, resulting in degradation of overall network performance.
In a conventional network conforming to 802.11k, if the access point providing the strongest signal to a respective mobile communication device is loaded to its full capacity, the wireless device is handed off to one of the underutilized wireless access points. Even though the signal may be weaker with the new wireless access point, the overall throughput of the wireless network is greater because more efficient use is made of the network resources.
In accordance with certain conventional wireless handoffs, a wireless access point can initially determine that a respective client is moving away from it. To initiate a wireless handoff, the access point informs the client device to prepare to switch to communicating with a new access point. As part of the handoff protocol, the client device then requests the wireless access point for a list (i.e., neighbor list) of nearby wireless access points in a vicinity of the given wireless access point to which the communication device is connected. As mentioned above, the given wireless access point monitors the immediate area for presence of other wireless access points and produces a respective neighbor list. The given wireless access point then forwards the respective neighbor list of nearby wireless access points to the client device. The client device then selects an access point from the neighbor list and establishes a new wireless link with the selected wireless access point in the neighbor list.